A Game Sustained

135 first County Championship match in well over four years, against Gloucestershire at Clifton. ‘Old Ebor’ enthused that it was ‘a great privilege to be permitted once more to see and describe the doings of the Eleven in the field.’ To the horror of a local cricket reporter, Yorkshire were put in to bat in sunny weather but on a pitch that was ‘anything but level’ and with long grass still present in the outfield. Rhodes (72) and Roy Kilner (112) then entertained a small crowd as Yorkshire secured 277, with the latter’s innings being described as ‘a brilliant display of batting’, suggesting he was making a good recovery from his wartime wounds. Helpedbyexcellentfielding,YorkshirebowledGloucestershire out for 125, with Captain W.E. Blackburn taking three for 24 and Rhodes seven for 47. Batting a second time, they made just 89, with the Skipton amateur Blackburn even more successful with five for 39, and Rhodes mopping up the tail with four for five to take 11 for 52 in the match. For all the debate about the shortcomings of two-day cricket, this match was completed by 12.15pm on the second day and the press were not slow to point out that Gloucestershire’s experience was unlikely to be cited in support of the change. Had the normal time of drawing stumps been adhered to, Gloucestershire would have had seven wickets of their first innings left. As it turned out, between 6pm and 7.30pm they lost them all and then two more in their second innings. The Yorkshire side that took the field for the first game after the war was a combination of experience and youth. George Hirst was now 47 and with Wilfred Rhodes was the link back to the glorious days of the end of the 19th century. Roy Kilner was the returning war hero and an enormously popular player. 83 Blackburn and Sutcliffe made their county debuts that day. The former had played for Bowling Old Lane in 1906 and then for Keighley and Skipton, before moving to Liverpool on business. During the war, he rose to the rank of captain in the Royal Artillery and was wounded three times. He appeared ten times for Yorkshire in 1919 and 1920 but struggled with the physical demands of long bowling spells. A more significant appearance for the future of Yorkshire A wonderful relief: 1919